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Quartz tariffs are looming and your kitchen could pay the price
Earlier this week, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that increased quartz imports are injuring the domestic quartz industry. The petitioners, the Quartz…
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Let’s put the next SpaceX in our 401(k)s before its launch onto public markets
As Artemis II achieved liftoff for the first moon voyage in more than 50 years, space news also rocked the investment world with the breaking…
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One year of Liberation Day
Today marks one year since President Trump’s Liberation Day press conference in the White House Rose Garden. Trump declared a national emergency because Americans import…
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DOJ files suit to end California’s unlawful climate and auto power grab
The Trump administration’s rollback of Obama and Biden administration climate policies keeps rolling along. The latest initiative is a lawsuit filed by the Department…
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Free the Economy podcast: Kids, social media, and the First Amendment with Jessica Melugin
In this week’s episode we cover budget reconciliation and deficit spending, the burdens of Total Boomer Luxury Communism, and how to counteract…
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Federal regulation 1st quarter 2026 report: Bureaucracy on the back foot
Here at the close of the first quarter of 2026, the March 31 Federal Register stands at 16,115 pages, containing 609 final rules and 416…
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Fair notice and the nondelegation doctrine: A due process lens
Debates over the nondelegation doctrine usually begin with constitutional structure. Article I vests “[a]ll legislative Powers” in Congress, so when Congress gives agencies sweeping discretion…
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Review of Michael Sheridan’s The Red Emperor: Xi Jinping and His New China
In my continuing quest to learn more about the US’s number one strategic rival, I recently finished reading (i.e., listening to it on Audible) the…
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From airport security lines to the Danger Zone: TSA delays and public safety
The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) staffing shortfall is creating more than long lines. It may already be putting travelers’ lives at risk. Since the partial…
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The week in regulations: Resettling refugees and sea otter casualties
TSA lines reached their longest-ever wait times, bolstering the case for privatizing airport security. President Trump’s signature will appear on US currency starting later this…
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License to misfire: The new CDL rule backfires on safety and prices
The American economy runs on trucks. From groceries to medical supplies to construction materials, nearly everything travels by road at some point. In the absence…
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Free the Economy podcast: Population and abundance with Gale Pooley
In this week’s episode we cover income inequality, myths about homelessness, First Amendment protections for AI, and reforming unfunded mandates.
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Tariffs are taxes: February’s PPI shows where they land
February’s Producer Price Index (PPI) report came in hot. Final demand increased by 0.7 percent from January, for an annualized rate of nearly 9…
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The consequences of American socialism: A review of John Kenneth Galbraith’s Economic Development
John Kenneth Galbraith’s 1963 book Economic Development asks the same question Adam Smith asked: where does wealth come from? His answers are very different…
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End minimum parking requirements and let the housing market drive
It may sound counterintuitive, but some significant housing policy is tucked away in the parking sections of local zoning codes. A minimum parking requirement (MPR)…
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Trump’s AI plan clears the field — then occupies it
Preempting state overreach in artificial intelligence (AI) regulation is urgent — but it’s only half the job. Firm limits on federal power matter just as…
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CEI’s The Surge: EU forest regulation, power scarcity, and more
If you are interested in analysis and perspective on current energy and environmental issues, then we encourage you to subscribe to this new publication and…
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The week in regulations: Library pictures and aerobatic airplanes
The Iran war entered its fourth week. ICE agents might be reassigned to airport security. The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady. President Trump expressed…
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How CEI helped advance sound energy and environmental policy in 2025
When I started at CEI in December 2024, the energy and environment team already had its foot on the gas pedal. As the new administration…
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Executive order embraces limited government approach to housing affordability
A March 13 Trump executive order, “Removing Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Home Construction,” offers a number of good ideas for addressing high housing costs.
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The Jones Act: High seas, higher costs than necessary
As the war with Iran intensifies, the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of global oil flows, has seen dramatic disruptions that have…
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Free the Economy podcast: Enduring policy principles with Richard Stern
In this week’s episode we cover housing affordability, labor unions and train safety, the late Paul Ehrlich (1932-2026), and the late…
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Remembering Brian Doherty (1968–2026)
Journalist and author Brian Doherty died last week at the age of 57. A longtime Reason magazine contributor and chronicler of the world of…
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Idaho’s successful regulatory reform
Over at National Review, my colleague Hayden Stolzenberg and I examine some of Idaho’s recent regulatory reforms, as outlined in a recent CEI paper.
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The infrastructure cartel trap
At last week’s BlackRock US Infrastructure Summit in DC, federal and state policymakers, investors, and corporate leaders gathered to map out the next wave…
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Shutdown woes show why it is time to privatize the TSA
Imagine arriving at the airport for a long-anticipated vacation, only to face a line longer than an airport runway. The excitement quickly gives way to…
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The missing guardrail in crisis politics: Discipline
Modern American governance has developed a troubling pattern. Economic shocks like the 21st century’s financial panics and pandemic are often met with vast expansions of…
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The week in regulations: Music royalties and avocado maturity
The Iran war continued to raise oil prices. The Trump administration took steps to raise tariffs under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act, but…
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Illiberalism: The bipartisan tradition
After experiencing the horrors of World War I and fearing a second World War could be imminent, Ludwig von Mises wrote Liberalism: The Classical…
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Good and bad trade news: Jones Act suspension, but more tariffs on the way
Two conflicting bits of trade news came out yesterday. The good news is that the Trump administration is considering temporarily suspending the Jones Act,…
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Free the Economy podcast: Regulating finance with James Copland
In this week’s episode we cover the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, fighting fraud in broadband deployment, and cutting…
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The Senate housing bill’s road to socialism
In the last week of February, I expressed hope that members of Congress would “embrace free-market proposals to advance opportunities in the housing sector”…
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Washington should resist the urge to overreact to high gas prices
Unfortunately, there has been a sharp increase in domestic gas prices since the conflict with Iran started.According to the Energy Information Administration, the national…
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Mandates before proven safety: How the Railway Safety Act ignores rail safety
The Washington Post’s recent piece on the Railway Safety Act underscores an essential point: safety legislation must be grounded in evidence, not fear or…
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Pardon me boys, is this the Special Interest Express?
The Washington Post published a smart editorial on Monday on why the proposed Railway Safety Act is a bad idea. The legislation is…
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No free lunch: Price controls won’t make groceries more affordable
When Americans go to the grocery store, they expect to find food and drinks. Lately, many are encountering something else: sticker shock. According to…
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Happy birthday to the Wealth of Nations – and to CEI
Today is the 250th anniversary of the publication of perhaps the seminal work of economics, Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of…
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The week in regulations: Shellfish inclusion and paper manifest sunsets
The labor force shrank by 92,000 jobs in January. Oil prices spiked. Twenty-two state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against President Trump’s Section 122 tariffs.
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Free the Economy podcast: Mississippi renaissance with Douglas Carswell
In this week’s episode we cover housing abundance, capitalism’s approval rating, audits of state finances, and the consumer nostalgia of…
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The problem with the EU’s deforestation regulation
The European Union’s (EU) Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) was adopted in 2023. The stated objective of the EUDR is “to reduce greenhouse gas emissions…
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The Railway Safety Act would derail progress one provision at a time
On February 3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. The derailment spilled hazardous chemicals and prompted a massive, controlled burn that sent plumes…
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Tariffs and inflation: Response to latest CPI release
On February 13th, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent CPI release showed a 0.2 percent month-to-month increase for January and a 2.4 percent…
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The major questions doctrine at a crossroads
In Learning Resources v. Trump, the Supreme Court held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize President Trump’s tariffs. This…
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The most powerful monopoly isn’t a corporation: Introducing the Capitol Control Quotient
Policymakers often argue over whether capitalism works and how aggressively it should be restrained. But they rarely ask the more pertinent question: where, exactly, does…
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The week in regulations: Fusion machines and suspicious health care
President Trump launched a preemptive war with Iran, leading many to question the true worth of the FIFA Peace Prize. The 2026 Federal Register topped…
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Minimum lot sizes, maximum costs
When Americans think about the housing affordability debate, they tend to picture cranes, lumber prices, or mortgage interest rates. It is certainly important to focus…
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The market has spoken: Consumers define the relevant video market
Washington loves drama, and recent debates over video industry consolidation have delivered plenty – billions of dollars at stake, congressional theatrics, and political posturing. But…
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Déjà vu all over again as Trump administration move to protect freelancing
The Department of Labor has proposed a new worker classification rule to replace the previous administration’s 2024 rewrite. This new version would…
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Free the Economy podcast: Big Tech, Europe, and free speech with Spence Purnell
In this week’s episode we cover the Supreme Court’s recent decision on tariff powers, myths of the Great Recession, and fiduciary duty…
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Politicians should push deregulatory initiatives – not investor limits – to boost housing affordability
Both President Trump and Democrats in Congress seem to blame the high costs of housing on certain groups of real estate investors and to restrict…